What Is the World Coming To?

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9

Each day brings with it disturbing news from around the world, and it does seem to be accelerating. Whether due to persistent attention forced upon us by a twenty-four-hour media cycle, or because bad things are happening more often does not ultimately matter as much as our response. People often ask why God would allow such bad things to happen, and they sometimes blame God for making those things happen in the first place. It is not God’s fault.  

Someone asked me the other day, “What is the world coming to?”  My answer was that the world has never left the spiritually fallen state it has always been in.  Depending on the audience this will make sense, but it is worth some explanation to all. We should not be surprised by what is happening. We should expect it. Here is why.

When God first created the universe, He created a beautiful planet that was perfect in its finished form. In the book of Genesis, God called his work “good.” By using the word “good,” He was saying it was perfect in every way.

The Earth’s human inhabitants were then, and are now, God’s ultimate creation. What He wanted from us was a relationship, and to have a loving relationship we had to be granted the right to choose. Love does not exist without choice, and neither does sin. Other ways to describe this choice are “free will,” or “free agency.” Without an understanding of free will nothing in the Bible will make sense. Free will is necessary to love unconditionally, and free will provides the opportunity to rebel. Allowing free will led to a chance for rebellion, and that rebellion is called sin. 

Sin had consequences far beyond just the behavior of human beings. It led to a completely depraved society that was judged by a global flood. Earth today bears the marks of that global flood. What has not changed is that we humans still have free will and can choose to love God or rebel. This same sin infected much more than just us as humans. In fact, Romans 8:22 says “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning…” and this is a picture of a creation bearing a heavy burden, a burden caused by sin. Like a cancer, it infected all of God’s perfect creation.

The first rebel was the devil. Thinking himself greater than God, he attempted to usurp the throne only to find that he was a created being wholly subject to his creator. The result was his being cast down to earth and judged for eternity. This does not mean he is not still actively pursuing his own desires. With the same sin he committed, he convinced Adam and Eve they could be like God. Today, he still pursues humans seeking to destroy them and add them to his collection. The book of Job is a perfect example of how Satan walks the earth still.  

Job 1:7 says, “The Lord said to Satan, ‘From where have you come?’ Satan answered the Lord and said, ‘From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.’”

Satan willingly takes part in pushing people to their own destruction. Therefore, we see the world the way it is today - and why it has been this way since the first temptation. Mankind too often chooses evil.    

So, what is the world coming to? It is coming to a point where creation will no longer bear the weight of our rebellion and mankind continues to rebel and blame their creator for the consequences of their own choices. There is also a point when God decides that it is time to ‘reset’ His creation. The result is a new heaven and a new earth. Whether we are nearing the time of the greatest reset the world has seen since the days of Noah remains a mystery. We should look at today as simply a continuation of what society has looked like throughout history…fallen.

More importantly, each person still has a chance to exercise their free will and make a choice. They can choose to continue in rebellion, or they can choose to follow Jesus Christ. When the ‘greatest reset’ does happen, that choice will be gone for most. It will not matter what you have done or not done for a perfect God can perfectly forgive too. See HERE for more on salvation.  So “Choose this day whom you will serve.” Joshua 24:15. As for me and my house will continue to serve the LORD and serve as the Watchmen on the wall pointing the way to what is coming. Most importantly, we will point the way to a perfect Savior.

That is the only response that matters. So, choose, but choose now.

Lt Col (ret), US Army, Darin Gaub is a Co-founder of Restore Liberty, an international military strategist, foreign policy analyst, executive leadership coach, ordained Bible minister, and serves on the boards of multiple volunteer national and state level organizations. The views presented are those of the author and do not represent the views of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, or its components. He can be contacted at daringaub@protonmail.com